Story Behind the Song: Lanco, ‘High’

Before Lanco's debut album, Hallelujah Nights, debuted at No. 1 on the country charts, the band’s first EP helped introduce the talented artists to Nashville and the country music fans. That project, 2016's Extended Play, includes the song “High,” written by Jeff Hyde, who also plays guitar on the track.

Below, Hyde shares with The Boot the process of writing and eventually recording "High" with Lanco.

Jeremy Spillman invited me into this write. He was writing with Brandon [Lancaster, Lanco's frontman]. Jeremy is a great, great writer; he’s written some great songs.

I think I had that little guitar part, and I don’t remember who came up with that hook, but Brandon’s got that range — he’s a great singer — and that was an inspiration for the chorus. Sometimes your ability dictates your style.

The rest of that day is a little bit of a fog; I don’t remember who came up with what. [But Lanco] invited me to play guitar on that song when they were doing their record, so that was pretty cool ...

It’s just hurdle after hurdle [to get a song onto an album]. When you have that perspective, you realize that all those little successes are blessings not to be taken for granted, because it’s not easy. I guess that’s any business; any time you’re trying to do something amongst a bunch of peers that are talented and hungry and competitive, then you’re thankful for the successes because you know that they’re not easy.

It was cool when I went in there to play that guitar part and saw those guys sitting around in a band. It kind of reminded me of that movie, Tender Mercies, with Robert Duvall: There’s a band traveling around in a van, and they’re enthusiastic and make a record. I told them that, and they said, “Oh yeah, we’ve never seen that movie, but we’ll have to check it out.” It was cool to be a part of.